Read on for my thoughts on yesterday's ROH and Smackdown.
ROH:
A whole show devoted to the Bullet Club might be worse than a whole show devoted to Jay Lethal.
People are definitely talking about what BC did at Global Wars. They're not necessarily saying positive things.
- Briscoes vs. Anderson/Gallows:
Bullet Club A-Team is in WWE now.
I'd be good with Briscoes in WWE.
- Bullet Club vs. ROH All-Stars:
Oh yay a flippy 10-man tag. Strong and the Bucks in one match is 2indy4me.
War Machine would probably be good if they didn't try to do cutesy moves. Ugh.
At least we're seeing Anderson and Gallows do good stuff.
- Briscoes/Yano vs. Elite:
The reason Bullet Club works in Japan is because they're not used to gang-style beatdowns there. It's passe in the U.S.
I mostly like the Briscoes when they focus on kicking ass instead of flashy moves.
Stereo moves make me want to change the channel. A few here and there is OK, but not to the extent we see them in ROH.
The Elite is so masturbatory. I didn't want to watch this match in February and I don't want to watch it now.
This is just garbage. Comedy combined with over-the-top flippy shit. If HHH vs. Taker is "4 out of 10," this is .4 out of 10.
I can't take any of this seriously. It's definitely not a wrestling match. It's a choreographed circus act at best.
The worst part is that the Briscoes are somewhat trying to make this work as a match.
I feel bad for Cody Hall being stuck with this group.
That was absolutely terrible. If ROH wasn't considered a major promotion now, I wouldn't bother covering a show I mostly heavily dislike.
- Anderson/Gallows/Fale/Tonga vs. reDRagon/Shibata/Goto:
Gallows and Anderson are getting plenty of TV time for a team working for WWE.
I mostly like Kyle O'Reilly.
The NJPW stars here are mostly good.
I generally like Fish most of the time, too.
Good teamwork from the WWE duo.
This is turning into a fun battle.
Looks like Gallows and Anderson could really kill it in WWE if they had the opportunity.
Solid match to make up for the awful previous showcased match.
It's a shame Cole had to team up with a terrible group to be a title contender again. I guess someone has to be as awful as a character as Lethal to be ROH World Champion in 2016.
Smackdown:
Ambrose as Mr. MITB could be pretty fun.
Crazy to think we're at the 17th MITB match now. Post-brand split, I'd like to see (say) four Raw and four Smackdown stars compete for MITB to the one WWE Title instead of switching the title again. PPVs can remain dual-branded: Each show can put up four matches. Say the Women's Champion is facing a Raw challenger on the show. Her next feud can be with a Smackdown challenger with some other match taking one of Raw's four spots. I'm fine with the U.S. and IC Titles being one to each brand, but I'd like to see the other titles be open to either brand.
That's on Cole not knowing this is the Kevin Owens Show.
I liked Sami being motivated and focused. He's usually pretty laid back, to the detriment of his feud.
That was a fun opening segment. I do miss Teddy Long running out and making Del Rio/Owens vs. Zayn/Ambrose (Del Rio would naturally object to being in two matches in one night, but Long would inform him sometimes you gotta hustle PLAYA).
Tuesday Night ZackDown is going to be hype.
- Del Rio vs. Ryder:
Good action so far. Alberto always wrestles like he's on a mission.
Ryder's not giving up against the former WWE/World Champion.
That was pretty good overall.
Enzo KILLING it on the mic HOW YA DOIN'.
Good setup for a match on Raw. If the Dudleys win, they could easily step into the tag title picture.
Rusev and Lana are a really entertaining couple.
I feel bad for Kalisto being thrown under the bus as a baby and a mosquito, but that was pretty entertaining.
I hope the kayfabe reason for Eden leaving is Rusev yelling at her and demanding to be introduced first.
- Rusev vs. Kalisto:
Kalisto's high-flying is always impressive.
Kalisto still not 100% from Extreme Rules.
I wonder what Zeb Colter would think about a Bulgarian and Mexican competing for the U.S. Title.
I hope Kalisto can be their next Rey. I'm not sure what that would make Andrade Almas, since he's wrestling without a mask.
Rusev as a bear mauling his prey is often pretty entertaining.
There's actually a little continuity here. Titus has teamed with Sin Cara on a few live events lately, so maybe he gained respect for Kalisto in that endeavor.
I missed Titus' dog taunt. Not going to lie.
- Dana vs. Natalya:
Well that was quick! I was hoping for something longer between these two. Hopefully we do get that.
So who comes to defend Natalya? Becky?
Interesting AJ promo. I really think they're just biding time until Finn wraps up in NXT. He'll definitely be free for MITB.
- Golden Truth vs. Breezedango:
I like the teamwork between Breeze and Fandango. Their gimmicks definitely mesh well.
That was a lot of fun. It just didn't really get a lot of time.
I wouldn't jump to conclusions about Goldust losing being related to the Cody/Eden situation. Goldy and Truth have been having issues for a while, so this could easily just be a continuation of that.
I hope there's more time for undercard backstage segments when the brands split. The Golden Truth thing has been a lot of fun.
HOW CAN ONE MAN BE SO BASED? Seth Rollins for President.
- Cesaro vs. Miz:
Nice work early. Miz doesn't have to be a better technician or quicker than Cesaro. He needs to be smarter and focus on Cesaro's mistakes (and his surgically-repaired shoulder).
Fun interaction between these two, with Miz targeting the weak point for massive damage while Cesaro tries to make use of what brought him to the dance.
LOVED the spot with Maryse taking off the turnbuckle after Miz started it. Clever heel teamwork.
If European uppercuts were superkicks, I'd dislike this as much as a Bucks match, so I'm criticizing him for overusing a spot, too.
That was really good. Both men did really solid work in their roles.
Could we see the U.S. and IC Title headline more shows post-Brand Extension? If there's only one World Champion, it would be the right move to make those championships important.
More wrestling coming up.
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